Unmissable family time-travel in historic Normandy, France
Family history adventure in France
Who remembers William the Conqueror? The fierce French nobleman who was promised the English throne by Edward the Confessor, only to be thwarted by the cunning Harold Godwinson, leaving William to lead his army to the Battle of Hastings to defeat Harold and take back the promised English crown in 1066.
Our daughter is learning about this fascinating piece of history at school and embarrassingly, I was struggling to remember my history facts, so I did what any travel planner worth their salt would do – packed the family up, loaded up the car and set off for 36 hours in Normandy to go back in time
Getting there
Travelling to Normandy from the south coast of England is really easy. Head down to Portsmouth and sail withBrittany Ferriesto St Malo (just on the Brittany/Normandy border) or sail to Caen (directly in Normandy).
Mont St Michel ferry en route to St Malo
Our overnight sailing started in French culinary bliss; a 3 course meal in the restaurant, before heading to our cabin to tuck up under snug duvets and puffy pillows. The children were super excited to be in at sea in bunk beds and there was much squealing with excitement before they finally settled down to sleep.
Awaking early the next morning we sailed into in the town ofSt Malo, where we disembarked and headed straight to the nearest cafe in town for breakfast and hot chocolates. We could have lingered a lot longer in St Malo, as there was so much to explore, but we had a history lesson to discover!
St Malo – well worth it’s own short break
First stop, the incredible Mont St Michel – 8th Century
The Mont St Michel island is fabulous and truly takes your breath away because it’s one of the great architectural wonders in France. It was built by Saint Aubert, Bishop of Avranches in the 8th Century, who saw in dreams Archangel Michael, who ordered him to build a sanctuary on Mount Tomb which was a rocky outcrop at the mouth of the Couesnon river.
Aerial shot of the Mont St Michel
This stunning abbey was built in phases over period of years, continuing to build up and up culminating in the bell tower at the top of the Abbey. Great consideration had to be given to the weight of the Abbey, given the buildings below it had to support the upper structures which is always a marvel when you consider medieval building tools. Today, Mont St Michel consists of homes, shops, restaurants, churches and the Abbey itself.
If you’re visiting allow a good 4 or 5 hours to enjoy it in full – the history is rich, the views are spectacular and it’s a very enjoyable family attraction to visit, whilst learning about life in the 8th Century Abbey along the way.
View of the cloisters in the Abbey
When you leave Mont St Michel, be sure to stop in at anycafein the local region to buy freshly made Madeleines – delicious with fresh orange juice, coffee or hot chocolate and I’m sure the ones freshly made in France seem to taste so much better than the ones we get in the UK!
Yummy Madeleines!
World War Two Normandy D-Day landings – 6th June 1944
TheD-Daylanding beaches are a must if you’re in this part of Normandy to reflect on the great sacrifice given by our soldiers to help end the second world war. Our children are 10 and 11 and we thought it was good time to introduce them to the history of the second world war, as played out on the Normandy beaches.
WW2 War Cemetery
There are 2 excellent museums atArromanches– the one at the top of the hill has acircular cinemathat explains the build up to the D-Day landings and the following weeks, which was easy for the children to follow as its mainly video images and covers the first 100 days following the D-Day landings. The othermuseumis at the bottom of the hill, overlooking the beach and is also well worth a visit.
View over Arromanche beach
After we had visited the museums and explored the beaches, the children had lots of questions to ask about what they had seen and heard. The children compared the young age of some of the soldiers to their cousins and couldn’t believe how young they were and I’m pleased that the foundations for this historic period are laid so that when this topic is covered in school, the children can reflect on what they saw and learned from this trip.
One of the gun batteries at Utah beachWounded soldier memorial
William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy – 1066
This chap is the real reason we’re in Normandy – to find out more about who he was and why he was such a big influence on England and the British Crown. We headed off to his ancestral home at hisCastle in Falaise. The children loved it – lots to learn, fun to run around on the ramparts with it’s 15 towers and a great way to experience what it was like to live in Medieval France. And the best thing – according to my 10 year old? The Dungeons!
William the Conqueror’s Castle
Bayeux Tapestry – 1070
If you’ve been learning about William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings in 1066, then you must come and see this incredibly story of events leading up to and immediately following the battle, in theBayeux Tapestry. At 70 meters in length, there are 50scenesdepicting the events leading to theNorman Conquest of England. Take the audio headphones and follow the story along the tapestry. It really is well worth a visit to bring this part of history to life for school children.
The Bayeux Tapestry
I hope you enjoy exploring Normandy, book early to get great deals on the ferry crossing and accommodation. We stayed in Caen which was pretty central for everything we visited. Good luck with your history lesson – do let me know how you get on!
Since the mid-nineteenth century, Oak Island has been claimed as the site for a vast, secretly hidden store of Templar treasure. Possibly the location of priceless items they discovered under the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.
Vast amounts of money have been spent excavating below ground to find millions of dollars worth of medieval booty. Companies have been set up with the sole task of getting to the treasure left behind by these enigmatic warrior knights. So – is the wealth of the Templars actually there?
Of course the answer is – we don’t know. But let’s try and figure out how the story has come about and why it still exercises such a tremendous hold on the popular imagination.
The Viking link to Oak Island
I think a good starting point are the claims made in the 20th century that the Vikings had got to the New World long before Christopher Columbus. Why is this important? Because if the Vikings could have got there – then why not the Templars?
This theory has been supported by the so-called Vinland map (dating from the 15th century), that seems to show our Viking ancestors touched down in north America. Trouble is, the map is just a little too good to be true and even though scholars from the British Museum and Yale backed it up in the 1960s, the evidence (for example dating of the ink) suggests it could be a forgery.
If it was true, the Vinland map would establish the feasibility of Europeans sailing across the Atlantic to the American coastline. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility because the Vikings did get to Iceland and Greenland. Some Templar conspiracy theorists suggest the knights or those who helped them had access to Viking navigation charts.
Moving away from the Vikings now, let’s shift our focus to the Knights Templar. In 1307, their number was up. Philip, king of France, had ordered the arrest of all the knights and they were interrogated under torture in various dungeons. But if the king had hoped to find lots of loot at the Paris Temple, their headquarters, he was to be severely disappointed. Only empty shelves greeted his soldiers.
We then get the story of Templar treasure being spirited away from Paris in wagons bound for the port of La Rochelle and from there on to Scotland (and/or maybe Portugal, see my other blog posts on that option). And then – the wealth of the Templars simply evaporates into thin air!
In his book Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar: Solving the Oak Island Mystery, Steven Sora claims that the Templars’ treasure – gold, silver, jewels and sacred relics of immense power – were firstly hidden away in the crypt at Rosslyn chapel by the Sinclair family. The Sinclairs are central to the whole Templar getaway-via-Scotland theory.
The Sinclair connection
Quick detour on the Sinclair family then. They are an ancient Scottish family that includes Henry, the first earl, who fought alongside the first Grand Master of the Templars, Hugh de Payens (or Payns) in the Holy Land in the early 12th century. So, we have an early association between this family and the order of knights.
Fast forward to the early 14th century and Sir William Sinclair (sometimes spelt St Clair or Saint-Clair) is sometimes held up to have been the last Templar Grand Master before his death in 1330. Trouble is, he also appears to have given evidence at their trials AGAINST the Templars – somewhat scuppering that theory unless he was involved in some kind of complex double bluff!
Then we have another Henry Sinclair who in the late 14th century allegedly explores the coast of north America with an Italian navigator called Antonio Zeno. This establishes the idea that the Sinclair family know all about the New World so are ready for a subsequent very important voyage.
According to Steven Sora, the Sinclairs leave the Templar treasure under Rosslyn until the 16th century. But then along comes the Protestant Reformation. The Sinclairs are devout Catholics. Fearing that that the Templar treasure might be seized, they set sail with it and land on…Oak Island!
Daniel McGinnis on Oak Island
Now, nothing more gets said about this – obviously, being a secret mission – until the 19th century. Then stories circulate in newspapers of discoveries made on the island by a man called Daniel McGinnis in the 1790s. I’ve read different versions of the McGinnis story. In one account, he found a curious depression in the ground while setting up his farm. Or, he saw unusual lights on the island one evening and sailed across, discovering the pit when he got there.
The story of McGinnis and his excavations only emerges fifty years later in a paper called the Liverpool Transcript. By the mid-nineteenth century, tales of pirates and their hidden treasure had become the stuff of boys’ magazines. In 1881, the author Robert Louis Stevenson would publish Treasure Island in a boys’ magazine called Young Folks. The Oak Island booty came to be associated with both the Templars and notorious pirates like Captain Kidd and Blackbeard.
This was also an era of gold rushes – speculators dashing to reputed finds of the precious metal. So, maybe not entirely surprising that Oak Island was soon swarming with diggers. The main attention was the Oak Island Money Pit. This was a curious shaft with what appeared to be booby traps set at different levels.
Most intriguing was the discovery of a stone slab that allegedly has carved on it the message: Forty feet below, two million pounds lay buried. That line is best said if you impersonate Nicholas Cage in the movie National Treasure. More seriously, at least six people have died investigating the very deep money pit due to flooding and in one case, a boiler exploding.
The Franklin Roosevelt connection
One well known Oak Island devotee was the US president Franklin Roosevelt (pictured above). The Democrat occupant of the White House through the 1930s was a Freemason and from his youth until his death in 1945, retained an abiding interest in the site. One feature that apparently gripped him was the rumour that the jewels of the last queen of France, Marie Antoinette, had been squirrelled away on the island.
Which brings us to the 21st century! Such is the level of interest in Oak Island that the History channel has just commissioned a whopping 30 hours for season six of its series The Curse of Oak Island. This runaway success of a documentary series features two Michigan brothers Rick and Marty Lagina who have bought much of Oak Island to pursue the treasure hunt. They are accompanied by local expert, Dan Blankenship.
Rick is a retired US postal worker who passionately believes something lurks under the surface. His brother Marty is the sceptical foil raising doubts every so often about their enterprise. However, as the digs proceed, Marty is seen to convert by degrees to the cause.
The programme has attracted an impressive four million views. And it’s spawned two spin-offs: The Curse of Civil War Gold and Yamashita’s Gold. The first spin-off speaks for itself. The second is the alleged burial of treasure by Japanese soldiers in the closing days of World War II in the Philippine jungle.
In case you missed my recent outing on the History channel – I appeared in episode four of the Templar documentary series Buriedearlier this year. Together with presenters Mikey Kay and Garth Baldwin, we looked for Templar treasure in the ancient citadel of Tomar in Portugal.
A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - At the height of their glory, the Vikings formed many new Scandinavian dynasties. At first, they were considered foreigners, but they eventually integrated with local communities, even religiously.
One of them was Rollo (also known as Gånge-Rolf), an ancestor of the famous William the Conqueror, who led the conquest of Normans to England and became king of the country in 1066.
Believed to have lived between 846 and 931 AD, the first historical account of Rollo detailed his leadership of the Vikings during their siege of Paris from 885 to 6 AD.
Mentioned in Icelandic sagas, as a man of high social status, Rollo is often referred to as Rolf the Walker ("Ganger-Hrolf, "in Old Danish) because he had such an imposing figure that his horse could not carry him and was obliged to travel on foot.
His impressive figure was richly decorated with golden arm rings, amulets, and the hammer of the god Thor. By a treaty in 911, the Viking chieftain, Rollo, and his followers were granted part of the French coast called Normandy (or the "land of the Normans"). In return, Rollo was to swear loyalty to King Charles the Simple, look to the defense of his domain, and be baptized as a Christian.
The Viking chieftain kept his bargain with the king, and the treaty was beneficial to them both. Rollo's presence in Normandy was legitimate; he settled in the city of Rouen, which he seized earlier, in 876, and there were no further Viking raids into Charles's territory and in times of emergency, Rollo sent his met-at-arms at Charles's disposal.
"…when some peasants sought the right to hunt and fish in Rollo's woods, lakes, and rivers, he dispatched his uncle, Count Rudolph, to cut off a hand and a foot of each of the would-be-poachers. But he was also sharp-witted and practical. He let himself be baptized, and he lost no time in restoring the churches that he and his fellow Vikings had sacked…"
Statue of Viking Rollo in Ålesund, Norway. Image credit: Nils Harald Ånstad.
"… It was later recounted that when he was on his deathbed, he asked to be buried in the cathedral of Rouen and he ordered large sums of gold to be given to Christian churches…"
He continued to reign over the region of Normandy until at least 928, according to a charter of 918. By the end of the century, these settlers spoke French and had lost their Scandinavian heritage.
Rollo was succeeded by his son, William Longsword (c. 893 -942), William, the second ruler of Normandy, from 927 until his assassination in 942. The offspring of Rollo and his followers became known as the Normans.
After the Norman conquest of England and their conquest of southern Italy and Sicily over the following two centuries, their descendants came to rule Norman England (the House of Normandy), the Kingdom of Sicily (the Kings of Sicily) as well as the Principality of Antioch from the 10th to 12th century, leaving behind a lasting legacy in the historical records of the European continent and even the countries of Near East.
Much Debate On Rollo's True Origin
Like most other figures dated to early history, also Rollo's roots are shrouded in mystery.
Medieval chronicles from Norway and Iceland assert that Rollo and another figure known as Gange-Rolv (also known as Rolv Ganger) were one and the same person. On the other hand, modern Danish historians do not agree with these claims and insist that Rollo was Danish.
In the spring of 2014, a report published by Michael R. Maglio stated that the DNA extracted from the remnants of Rollo’s descendants disclosed them to be of Danish origin. This theory was also criticized, and it was said that the researchers had misidentified corpses.
An 11th-century Benedictine monk and historian wrote: "Rollo sailed boldly from Norway with his fleet to the Christian coast." Likewise, the 12th-century English historian William of Malmesbury stated that Rollo was "born of noble lineage among the Norwegians."
Also, according to one legend, he was a Norwegian scion of a family that had left Norway as outlaws and arrived in northern Scotland to seek freedom and wealth. From there, he took part in many Viking raids, reaching the coast of England and France.
An entirely different account was given by a hisorian of early Norman history, Dudo of St. Quentin, born about 965, who claimed that Rollo and his brother, Gurim (or Gorm) were sons of an influential noble man in Dacia, a province covering the entire Nordic region (Dania and Suecia), which is the Medieval Latin names for Denmark and Sweden.
One of his great-grandsons was known as Robert the Dane.
Rollo's grave is at the Cathedral of Rouen. Image credit: Wikipedia
It is worth mentioning that Dudo’s version of events was partially echoed by the 12th century “Orkneyinga Saga, along with the Landnámabók ("Book of Settlements"). The latter is the medieval Icelandic written work that describes in considerable detail the settlement (landnám) of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.
Also, according to one legend, he was a Norwegian scion of a family that had left Norway as outlaws and arrived in northern Scotland to seek freedom and wealth. From there, he took part in many Viking raids, reaching the coast of England and France.
Among historians, Rollo - as the great-great-great-grandfather of William the Conqueror - is considered one of the ancestors of the present-day British royal family. He is also an ancestor of all current European monarchs.
Updated on December 6, 2023
Written by – A. Sutherland AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer
The objective at Utah was to secure a beachhead on the Cotentin Peninsula, the location of important port facilities at Cherbourg. The amphibious assault, primarily by the US 4th Infantry Division and 70th Tank Battalion, was supported by airborne landings of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division. The intention was to rapidly seal off the Cotentin Peninsula, prevent the Germans from reinforcing Cherbourg, and capture the port as quickly as possible. Utah, along with Sword on the eastern flank, was added to the invasion plan in December 1943. These changes doubled the frontage of the invasion and necessitated a month-long delay so that additional landing craft and personnel could be assembled in England. Allied forces attacking Utah faced two battalions of the 919th Grenadier Regiment, part of the 709th Static Infantry Division. While improvements to fortifications had been undertaken under the leadership of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel beginning in October 1943, the troops assigned to defend the area were mostly poorly equipped non-German conscripts.
D-Day at Utah began at 01:30, when the first of the airborne units arrived, tasked with securing the key crossroads at Sainte-Mère-Église and controlling the causeways through the flooded farmland behind Utah so the infantry could advance inland. While some airborne objectives were quickly met, many paratroopers landed far from their drop zones and were unable to fulfill their objectives on the first day. On the beach itself, infantry and tanks landed in four waves beginning at 06:30 and quickly secured the immediate area with minimal casualties. Meanwhile, engineers set to work clearing the area of obstacles and mines, and additional waves of reinforcements continued to arrive. At the close of D-Day, Allied forces had only captured about half of the planned area and contingents of German defenders remained, but the beachhead was secure.
The 4th Infantry Division landed 21,000 troops on Utah at the cost of only 197 casualties. Airborne troops arriving by parachute and glider numbered an additional 14,000 men, with 2,500 casualties. Around 700 men were lost in engineering units, 70th Tank Battalion, and seaborne vessels sunk by the enemy. German losses are unknown. Cherbourg was captured on June 26, but by this time the Germans had destroyed the port facilities, which were not brought back into full operation until September.
On December 31, 1943, Eisenhower and Montgomery first saw the plan, which proposed amphibious landings by three divisions and two-thirds of an airborne division.[11] The two generals immediately insisted that the scale of the initial invasion be expanded to five divisions, with airborne descents by three divisions, to allow operations on a wider front.[12] The change doubled the frontage of the invasion from 25 miles (40 km) to 50 miles (80 km). This would allow for quicker offloading of men and materiel, make it more difficult for the Germans to respond, and speed up the capture of the port at Cherbourg.[13] Eisenhower and Lieutenant General Omar Bradley selected for Utah the VII Corps. Major General J. Lawton Collins, who had experience with amphibious operations in the Pacific Theater of Operations (though not in the initial assaults), replaced Major General Roscoe Woodruff as commander of VII Corps.[14]
The coastline of Normandy was divided into seventeen sectors, with codenames using a spelling alphabet—from Able, west of Omaha, to Roger on the east flank of Sword. Utah was originally designated "Yoke" and Omaha was "X-ray", from the phonetic alphabet. The two names were changed on 3 March 1944. "Omaha" and "Utah" were probably suggested by Bradley.[15] Eight further sectors were added when the invasion was extended to include Utah. Sectors were further subdivided into beaches identified by the colors Green, Red, and White.[16]
Utah, the westernmost of the five landing beaches, is on the Cotentin Peninsula, west of the mouths of the Douve and Vire rivers.[17] The terrain between Utah and the neighboring Omaha was swampy and difficult to cross, which meant that the troops landing at Utah would be isolated. The Germans had flooded the farmland behind Utah, restricting travel off the beach to a few narrow causeways. To help secure the terrain inland of the landing zone, rapidly seal off the Cotentin Peninsula, and prevent the Germans from reinforcing the port at Cherbourg, two airborne divisions were assigned to airdrop into German territory in the early hours of the invasion.[18]
The need to acquire or produce extra landing craft and troop carrier aircraft for the expanded operation meant that the invasion had to be delayed to June.[19] Production of landing craft was ramped up in late 1943 and continued into early 1944, and existing craft were relocated from other theaters.[20] More than 600 Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft and their crews took a circuitous route to England in early 1944 from Baer Field, Indiana, bringing the number of available troop carrier planes to over a thousand.[21]
In the spring of 1944, the town of La Madeleine was occupied by the 3rd company of the Grenadier-Regiment 919 (709. Infanterie Division), commanded by the Oberleutnant Matz. The village houses the Wn 7 strongpoint (also known as Wn 105), which consists of several machine guns positions and houses Oberleutnant Matz command post. In 1944, La Madeleine is located on the only road parallel to the beach and is the link between two departmental roads (D67 and D913).
On the beach, at the place called La Grande Dune, the Germans installed the strongpoint Wn 5 (also known as Wn 104). The latter is placed under the authority of the Leutnant Yahnke belonging also to the 3rd company of Grenadier-Regiment 919. This strongpoint defends the access to the road leading to the village of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. Protected by an anti-tank wall on which is constructed a casemate for 50 mm gun, the Wn 5 consists of two other 50 mm guns, a 47 mm anti-tank gun, a French tank turret FT 17 of 37 mm, For 50 mm mortar, three machine-gun burials and numerous shelters and ammunition bunkers. The entire site is protected by an extensive network of mines and barbed wire.
To the south of La Madeleine, behind the Wn 5, the Germans built another strongpoint, coded Wn 4 (also known as Wn 103) but which was not operational at the time of the landing. However, the Germans use it to protect themselves during the Allied bombing.
According to plans originally planned, the Allies plan to land their troops north-east of La Madeleine, on the area called “Utah Beach”. Utah beach is divided into two sub-sectors: “Tare Green” to the north and “Uncle Red” to the south. But on June 6, 1944, strong currents deviated the boats 2,500 meters to the south. On D-Day, the Americans land east of La Madeleine, opposite Wn 5. Their right flank faces the axis of the 913 departmental road. The first wave reaching Normandy at 6:30 am consists of 20 landing craft carrying the first elements of the 8th Infantry Regiment commanded by Colonel Francis F. Fainter. Companies B and C land on Tare Green, companies E and F on Uncle Red. Ten minutes later, amphibious tanks of the 70th Tank Battalion (4th Infantry Division), led by Lieutenant-Colonel John C. Welborn, landed to destroy the resistance points along the beach. The C Company of the 8th Infantry Regiment commanded by Captain Robert Crisson mounted the assault of Wn 5 and took it without difficulty. The engineers of the 1st Engineer Special Brigade under the orders of General James E. Wharton immediately set to work to clear the beach obstacles, thus facilitating the continuation of the landing operations.
B Company of the 8th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Gail Lee, crosses the anti-tank wall and the dunes at 9 o’clock and heads inland for the German positions at Wn 7. The US soldiers are supported by the 70th Tank Battalion tanks commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John C. Welborn. However, the aerial bombardments and shots of the Allied navy deeply disorganized the opposing defense and the men of the Oberleutnant Matz are not able to offer special resistance.
The Americans seized La Madeleine in the middle of the morning and then moved inland.
US 90th Infantry Division Monument, 2 Utah Beach, 50480 Sainte-Marie-du-Mont
Located outside the Utah Beach Landing Museum. Plenty of car parking nearby.
The 'Tough Ombres'.
Activated as a division during the First World War, the US 90th Infantry Division were also known as the Texas-Oklahoma Division and their insignia patch is a combined 'T' and an 'O' letters.
One of the most distinguished units of WW2, the first elements landed at this location on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944 and we involved in the heavy fighting to secure the bridges over the Merderet and Douvres rivers and Hill 112, suffering around 5,000 killed, wounded, or captured - one of the highest casualty rates suffered by any division during WW2. The 90th made their way through northern France to the Ardennes, and into Germany where they liberated the Flossenburg Concentration Camp.
Gallery
US 90th Infantry Division Monument. Copyright Norm
Tema anterior
Mont St Michel ferry en route to St Malo
St Malo – well worth it’s own short break
Aerial shot of the Mont St Michel
View of the cloisters in the Abbey
Yummy Madeleines!
WW2 War Cemetery
View over Arromanche beach
One of the gun batteries at Utah beach
Wounded soldier memorial
William the Conqueror’s Castle
The Bayeux Tapestry
1/8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division
3./Grenadier-Regiment 919, 709. Infanterie Division
